Warrington Wolves 16 Widnes Vikings 0

A FIRST look at Ashton Sims in primrose and blue was clearly the highlight of Wolves’ delayed festive friendly against arch rivals.

And the prop forward, after four seasons calling the tropical climes of North Queensland his home, undoubtedly whet the lips of a hardy 3,541 crowd on a bitterly cold night.

In him and his play, there was a smattering of Bennie Westwood, a profusion of Adrian Morley, a scintilla of Chris Hill and a cheeky slice of David Solomona with warming custard on top.

Fair to say, then, that rolled into one with his stand-out rock God presence he is going to be a crowd pleaser at The Halliwell Jones Stadium.

For such a big man - 6ft 4in and 17st - at a time of year when conditioning is uppermost in mind, the Fiji captain showed he has a good engine with a 30-minute opening stanza backed up by another spell in the second half.

And in that time Sims demonstrated his game is not all about demolition. He can play a bit of football too, as one accurate offload round his back indicated in the second half.

Sims was Australia half back Jonathan Thurston’s minder at the Cowboys and there were no signs of him relinquishing that role when he took a dim view of Vikings’ new big boy Manase Manuokafoa ‘taking out’ Gareth O’Brien after a kick.

Although Sims and fellow newcomer Gary Wheeler produced positive first impressions, the star of the show honour fell to Matty Russell.

That would surely not have been lost on the watching Iestyn Harris, the Salford boss spying from the North Stand ahead of the opening Super League game with Wolves on Saturday, February 7.

The explosive full back was a threat with every kick return, either finding space to exploit or bumping off defenders as if he was handing out electric shocks.

He made several breaks that were not exploited to the full but shaking off ring-rust is what friendlies are all about.

Wolves were most impressive in defence, showing firm commitment to the cause and rarely looking in danger.

In attack, they crossed for three tries courtesy of Ben Currie, two, and Toby King, with each try scored coming when Denis Betts’ Vikings were down to 12 men from three sin-binnings.

The score was immaterial, but the decent performance sent Wolves to their warm-weather training camp knowing their pre-season work is on track.

Wolves: Matty Russell; Gene Ormsby, Rhys Evans, Gary Wheeler, Kevin Penny; Gareth O’Brien, Richie Myler; Ashton Sims, Micky Higham, Anthony England, James Laithwaite, Ben Currie, George King. Subs: Ben Westwood, Stefan Ratchford, Ben Harrison, Toby King, Declan Patton, Roy Asotasi, Joe Philbin, Andy Ackers, Tom Walker, Joel Monaghan.

Vikings: Jack Owens; Patrick Ah Van, Cameron Phelps, Stefan Marsh, Paddy Flynn; Kevin Brown, Joe Mellor; Phil Joseph, Aaron Heremaia, Ben Kavanagh, Chris Dean, Chris Clarkson, Hep Cahill. Subs: Brad Walker, Declan Hulme, Danny Craven, Grant Gore, Alex Gerrard, Manase Manuokafoa, Lloyd White, Macgraff Leuluai, Ted Chapelhow, Matt Whitley.